The battle over New York food delivery workers' pay is far from over.
During a hearing on the minimum wage proposal, New York riders under the Justice for App Workers’ flag gathered outside the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to call for a pay raise without lockouts.
A law passed by the City Council in 2021 and set to start at the beginning of this year guarantees the food couriers a minimum hourly pay rate.
Initially, the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection proposed a rate of $23.82 an hour by 2025. But the department rewrote its proposal in March and introduced a new, lower rate, starting at $17.96 an hour plus tips and rising only to $19.96 by 2025.
In the hearing and a rally beforehand, elected officials, workers and current group leaders said they blame food delivery app companies for profiting by paying subminimum wages to their workers. Representatives of app delivery companies said that even under the new proposals, they’d have to raise consumer fees and change their current operations. Workers would have less flexibility to choose their own shifts.
Riders have reiterated that they need a raise, but they also need to maintain their flexibility.
Read on: in English, in English (2) and in English (3)